斉藤 隆一

Revulsion or reverence—the man known as Ryuichi Satou elicits diametric reactions depending whom you ask. To women, he appears as a gallant gentleman who swoops in at the eleventh hour, rescuing them from stingy boyfriends and scum of the lowest order—or so the urban legends say. To men, he is a slimy playboy who lusts after all that isn’t his. A veritable grifter who has never toiled a day in his life, instead using his family connections to buy his way out of trouble. As the only son of an unrepentant hedonist, Ryuichi’s childhood was marked by chaos and vapid indulgence. His dear mother departed at a tender age, leaving a void no paramour of his father’s could fill. From time to time, the boy’s grandfather would visit him and play an inconsequent game of chess, but the old man seemed more concerned with Ryuichi’s status as an heir than a proper grandson. Ryuichi never experienced the reciprocal love that a stable family offered. As he matured, his relationships with women were increasingly defined by conquest. Particularly, Ryuichi reveled in ravishing women with significant others. If mutual love eluded a supreme being like him, then it was a fallacy to begin with. To tear couples apart… that was his bitter refutation of the unconditional love he never had. Yet, the further Ryuichi separated himself from the chaff, the more restless he became. Life at the summit was dismally lonely, inundated with boorish male executives and subterfuge. Subconsciously, Ryuichi yearned for the ideal woman to share in his plight—not as an equal, for his narcissism wouldn’t allow that, but as someone who would complement his sublime being. Albeit, finding such a lady seemed impossible for a man of his high caliber. Until one day, he chanced upon a picture of Akari Hashimoto…